


Mass Effect: Emergan

by EmGalo, VyrVorsa



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect - Various Authors, Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Tragedy, F/F, Romance, Science Fiction, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29219577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmGalo/pseuds/EmGalo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VyrVorsa/pseuds/VyrVorsa
Summary: A story about two women overcoming their personal demons and finding kinship in the face of adversity and the greatest threat the galaxy has ever seen.
Relationships: Emere Galo/Morgan B'Sorenn
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1Ai kae! - (Samoan), lit. "Eat shit!"  
> 2Ua leaga lou laulaufaiva. - (Samoan), "You got an evil tnogue."  
> 3lanu moaga - (Samoan), "Blue"

**Citadel  
Teysari Ward  
Euphera port C-sec office  
**

“Name?” turian C-sec customs officer Vitellea Veridus called out as the next arrival walked up to her busy desk. The gray-skinned alien barely spared a look for most people coming and going through her office, a type of professional deformation she had acquired as the office chief for Euphera port. All incoming passengers were processed at the port itself, with only a handful who, every day, ended up staring down at her desk. These individuals she paid very close attention to.

“Galo. Emere,” the human replied with a flat expression and even flatter tone. Her hair was pitch black, tied into a messy bun with but a few stubborn strands cresting her face and neck. Late twenties, from what Vitellea could discern, unremarkable but for the intimidating tribal neck tattoos the officer was sure covered most of the rest of the woman’s upper body. Apart from cargo pants, a shirt, and a military-grade jacket, she carried a bag of gear and necessities.

“Former Alliance marine. Colony defense and navy deployments against pirates. Distinguished service in the N3 program. Dishonorably discharged for conduct unbecoming an Alliance officer.” Veridus looked at the bag. “Carrying armor and a personal firearm. Any reason you’re expecting trouble?”

Emere’s eye twitched and her teeth clenched as the Turian spoke. The alien’s tone betrayed no mockery, but Emere knew better with their kind. There was usually a veiled jab at humanity's expense or unnecessary suspicions from those Turians who grew up prim and proper in their hierarchy. Still, she kept her teeth clenched and played along. “I’m here for work, nothing more.” Emere’s reply was terse, short, and antagonistic, but she didn’t lie nor felt the need to be diplomatic. She was there for her next job, one that paid enough to set her up for at least several years.

“I hope this work doesn’t include shooting up my ward. You’re an unknown, Galo, and your record tells me you’re dangerous and untrustworthy.” She paused for a long moment. “Fortunately for you, there’s nothing here that I can use to send you on the next shuttle back to where you came from, but I want you to know we’re watching you.” She entered the command into her terminal and Emere’s omni-tool glowed with confirmation of a pass into the Citadel proper. Without a word uttered Emere pulled the bag over her shoulder and walked out of the office into the communal area beyond. The C-sec officer’s gaze followed as the doors closed behind the human.

***

**Citadel  
Teysari Ward  
Vinus strip  
  
**

Emere spent a good part of the day in Euphera port, meeting old contacts and acquiring access to any gear she would need for whatever the job was that she was being hired for. The port was the best place for that as most shady business went down behind the backs of C-sec’s best and brightest, and usually in the cargo docks themselves where security was lax. The job, however, was very low-key and came to her through a smuggler buddy she knew from her academy days on Earth. He, like her, found the Alliance brass’ treatment unsatisfactory, to put it lightly. He spent most of his time in the Terminus systems these days.

The job sounded serious but also clandestine in nature as he did not give too many details likely because he himself knew next to nothing. He only said that the contact was trustworthy and that Emere might not like them at first, whatever that meant. She knew the contact was an asari, and that they would be in a nightclub, Eternity, in the Vinus strip. That fact alone sat poorly with her, but she trusted the man so she went with it. That, and she was drawn to the hefty paycheck.

Finally she found her way through the winding hallways and staircases that lead from the port down into Vinus strip, a wholly different location from any perspective. Unlike the sterile, almost machine-like port where everything smelled of recycled air, ozone and grease, the Strip was a place of shops and bars littering the streets. Aliens of all species mingled and went about their daily life among the buildings, and sky cars and shuttles rushed overhead above the protective artificial atmosphere layer hanging over the whole ward. Bright neon lights denoted each shop by name or vocation, holographic trees stood in place of long-since unearthed plants moved to the much more luxurious Presidium. There were no beggars on the Citadel, but Emere could still tell at a glance the difference between the well-to-do and the ones only scraping by. Same shit, a different corner of the galaxy.

With a grunt of annoyance, she passed several groups of salarians and turians as she made her way to the terminal displaying the map of the ward. It held data on every locale, including the ones she knew to be shadier and easier for business — including her destination. With a faint buzz, the holographic pad next to the terminal lit up just as Emere motioned over the screen and copied the map onto her omni-tool. The visage of a pink Asari VI materialized and turned towards Emere with a manufactured smile. “Welcome to Venus strip! I am Avina, how may I assist—”

“Ai kae!1” Emere muttered an expletive in her mother tongue and walked through the VI, not interested in the pre-programmed VI’s instructions. She gave the map a second glance and made her way through the streets toward the club. Many locations on the Citadel were high in the buildings or underneath the streets proper, it all depended on how big the owner’s pocketbook was. The higher up they were the easier they were to find, and Eternity was easier than most. Housed on the top floor of one of the high-rise buildings on the edge of the district, Eternity was supposedly one of the best clubs on Teysari ward and many a smuggler swore by its privacy, despite its higher status.

Emere found the entrance to the club at the side of the building, well lit with neon signs and spotlights. There weren’t many people around, most mingled in front and around the entrance, occasionally walking back inside for a much-needed refill. Two batarian bouncers kept the peace in front and checked newcomers for weapons and gear. As she approached, one of the bouncers turned to Emere, scowling with all four eyes.

“Weapons and gear. Leave ‘em at the counter inside.” The instruction was delivered as flatly as a thousand times before, but Emere couldn’t help but feel the anger in the alien’s eyes. With little to say, Emere walked by them both and stopped at the counter where a limber Salarian awaited.

“Stack eighty-seven, box five-five-four,” he said as he took Emere’s bag and placed it in an armored lockbox, and put it on an automated turntable for storage. “You can pick it up when you leave.” He sent a coded key to her omni-tool as she turned around and entered the large elevator bound for the top floor. The inner doors opened as she came to a halt overwhelming her with the smells and sounds of excess and debauchery. Immediately Emere noticed several levels the club was made of, each reachable by a set of stairs, spiraling above her. Various lighting setups changed color and tone on each level, seemingly made to appeal to each alien species in their own way. Asari and human dancers twirled around poles, enticing the patrons with their alluring displays. Hanar, elcor, asari, salarians, humans, turians. All mingled with each other like a melting pot. Emere noticed salarians and asari, turians and hanar, even some humans sharing affectionate glances or touches with each other. In particular a young human woman grabbed her attention. She was pretty, with hair cropped short and stylish, glowing clothes. She lay in the embrace of an asari whose hands seemed to find every right button to push, at least from the girl’s reactions. Emere sneered and walked past them to the bar.

“Whiskey,” she ordered from the waiter, a turian with pale skin and red face markings.

“No whiskey.” He replied. Clearly, the establishments in the citadel had no taste for human drinks.

“Then give me something close to it,” she replied tersely.

“Asari hard it is,” he said and poured her a blue liquid that, once smelled, reminded Emere of Alliance hospital blocks and disinfectant. She drank it down and ordered another. The taste was fine, once the smell was well and truly processed.

“Leave the bottle,” a candy-like voice ordered the bartender who, without protest, left the bottle on the counter. Emere turned to look at the newcomer and immediately regretted it. The pale blue asari sat next to Emere with the same manufactured smile as their damned VI. The asari had facial markings, lines, and dots swirling on her forehead, cheeks, and chin and she was deceptively beautiful. Her scalp crests were a darker shade of blue and teal, graduating along their length, dotted with lighter freckles. She wore a dark, skin-tight outfit not uncommon among most asari.

“I ain’t interested, lady. Whatever pleasurable experience you whores like to offer, it ain’t for me. Find another victim.” She turned to her drink and ignored the alien.

“Elegant, Ms. Galo, very elegant,” the asari replied and rolled her eyes. “Do I look like an escort?” Emere looked at her more closely, noticing peculiarities she hadn’t noticed before — the use of military-grade materials in her outfit when the lights were bright enough, the subtle way her body language revealed a military background, the look in her eye telling Emere she’d already come close to crossing a certain line.

“You’re not a whore, then. You must be my contact.” The human took the bottle and poured herself another.

“You can call me Morgan if whore becomes too cumbersome.” The venom in the woman’s voice was almost palpable, but enough to give Emere a reason to smile internally.

The ex-alliance soldier scrubbed a hand over her normally taught features, then downed another drink, allowing the flavor to sear her tongue. “Alright. Morgan,” she said. “What’s the objective? Slaying some vorcha? Batarians? Turian? Krogan? Asari?” Galo drew out the last fake inquiry for reactionary purposes only. The scoff and roll of her contact’s eyes gave her all the affirmation she needed.

"Take the bottle and follow me," Morgan ordered with little enthusiasm for sharing it with the human. She walked over to one of the private rooms and sat down on the couch, pointing at the other side for Emere. As the doors closed but before Emere found her seat, Morgan started again. "Former N3, was it? Why did you leave the program? Supposedly it's very prestigious among your kind."

“Kae, I don’t know. Something about not nearly paralyzing a superior officer. Nearly severed her spine but she shouldn’t have had a loose tongue. I’ve seen people beheaded for less. Discharged and tried but lucky she didn’t press charges.” The freelancer took a seat, leaning forward in a defensive position, elbows on her knees. “But fuck off about me. What are we about to do?”

"As you wish." Morgan gave the human a long stare as if taking her measure for a final time before replying. "Recon and information gathering. Our patron, whom you may refer to as Matriarch, has a vested interest in the colonies and outposts in the eastern Terminus systems and Attican traverse. Activity from the geth in that region has risen in recent years and she would like to know why." Morgan's hands worked with speed and elegance as a holographic map appeared in front of them, displaying the sectors of space she was referring to.

There was a grunt of disapproval as Emere stared at the map, arms folded over chest. “Information gathering? Glad I’m getting paid for this bullshit. What the hell even is a geth anyway?” Her eyes met Morgan’s with genuine curiosity.

Morgan was a hard woman to surprise in most situations, but the human’s question caught her off guard. She was so used to the geth being common knowledge in her circles that the fact that someone didn’t know about them seemed impossible. She navigated her omni-tool for the proper file and displayed it on the holo. It showed a humanoid with shiny metallic skin, digitigrade legs with two toes, and human-like arms with three fingers. Its head, however, was the most striking feature. It was a singular mechanical eye slotted inside a curved headpiece that extended from the creature’s spine.

“This is a geth. Artificial intelligence inside a bipedal synthetic mobile platform. Hostile to organic life.” She gauged Emere’s reaction carefully, staring at the woman’s facial expression and body language. “They usually stay in their own sliver of the galaxy, but for some reason, they have started moving in on colonies in the area. Mostly human colonies.”

Her eyes looked over the alien design as she allowed the information to sink in. She rubbed her chin then glanced back at Morgan, her brow furrowed. “Kae. I wonder what they want with us. The Alliance is notorious for their bullshit so it makes sense that most of us would know fuck all about that.” She was more vested now than she was just mere moments ago. “Not letting some alien droids fuck with my people though. But what stake do you have in this? Just credits?”

“My stake is not your concern, and neither are the colonists. Your people spread too thin and too quickly. You don’t know the galaxy at all and you expected everything to go your way. With minimal security those colonies are left to fend for themselves,” Morgan replied much more harshly than she may have intended, but human expansion irked her, not because she was xenophobic, but because they did so without heeding higher wisdom than their own. Foolish. Settling the Traverse and Terminus was always a bad idea, and not just because of the geth She sighed. “Council outposts have been hit as well, which means somebody who gives me orders has a vested interest.”

Emere took a swig of her alcohol, her eyes dark and brooding toward the asari. Not a whore, she thought. Definitely a fucking bitch. Not surprising to the human. Though she knew better than to pick a fight with an alien. The Citadel already had a skewed bias against humans and the last thing she needed was more trouble. Her jaw was a grinder as she took a few more gulps. "Ua leaga lou laulaufaiva,2" she mumbled before getting to her feet. “What’s the plan? I want to get this shit done and over with.”

“There are several teams working on this, all are either mercenary groups or individuals like yourself, as well as huntresses. You will be in my group, that is why we’re discussing this in person.” She displayed the next image, a location and information display — Castea colony. “This is a research colony west of Geth space in the Terminus. Your people who live there call it New O’ahu, from what we can tell. The asari sent a research vessel to assist them in a project regarding the filtration of acidic water through mineral formations in the planet’s crust. Their reports were regular until six days ago when we lost contact with our research vessel and the human colony went dark. No comms traffic at all.” She spared a glance at Emere. “We know that there was at least one squad of Alliance scouts on station in the colony, but they too stopped calling in, from what information we took from the Alliance.”

Emere leaned in and stared at the location. She then straightened, shifting her weight on one leg, rubbing her chin with her free hand. Her father’s missing unit would visit colonies but this just felt like a mere coincidence. Her father’s disappearance was over two years ago. Or so the Alliance said. “Bastards,” muttered the freelancer before she cracked her neck to one side. “How soon do we leave?” She was, for once, eager to gather information.

“The shuttle is already waiting. Do you have your gear or do you need more time to prepare?” Morgan replied.

“I have a few errands to run. Send me the docking bay number and I’ll be there in an hour.” The ex-soldier set the bottle down and began making her way to the exit of the club.

***

**Asari starship “Erythrae”  
En route to Castea system  
  
**

The circular iris-like doors opened with a hiss of hydraulics as Morgan and Emere left the shuttle bay and entered the main hallway of the Erythrae. It was a smaller vessel by asari standards, a frigate in name only. No bigger than the York class the Alliance used for frontline warfare, the Erythrae was, to the asari at least, nothing more than a lightly armed scout vessel. It had the iconic ‘asari’ shape that made Emere think of a whale breaking out of the water back on Earth. With circular corridors and an elegant interior aesthetic, the ship made her feel out of place, even uncomfortable at times. She was too used to the geometric shapes of the Alliance designs to feel at ease on a ship as alien as this.

They passed through the corridor and entered an elevator that took them up, to the main bridge where the rest of their squad awaited them. The doors opened to reveal a well-lit interior with a large, circular projection screen displaying tactical data, the ship’s position in space, communications, and other information Emere could not readily identify. She followed her asari guide inside and stopped at a large elliptical holo table situated one level above the bridge crew’s stations. Stairs on both side lead down, towards the captain’s station. There, an elderly asari with lime green skin conferred orders to her subordinates with an ethereal calm.

“Welcome,” the sing-song voice of another asari called out to them. She drew Emere’s attention and gave her a lively smile, prompting an automatic nod from the human. This asari, purple-toned with while markings on her face, looked substantially younger than even Morgan. Her eyes were unsettlingly gray and she wore a black jumpsuit of asari make, typical for their commandos. Around the overly-enthusiastic woman four more asari, similar to her in build and choice of armor, stood at easy attention as they waited for them. On the other side of the table two salarians, a turian, and a krogan shared an uneasy space between them. The salarians seemed to relax as Morgan walked in, whom they likely hoped would finally alleviate the tension.

“Everyone, this is 2nd lieutenant Emere Galo, Alliance marines. N3.” Morgan introduced the human with her full rank but gave her no time to protest, instead, she began introducing the aliens one by one.

“Commander Tevius Olymtus. Former Palaven security service and Turian aerospace force,” she pointed at the brown-skinned turian with a pale face plate and mandibles. He had red warpaint on his face and a long scar on his chin from what Emere could only assume was a blade. The commander nodded to Emere in respect, a rare but begrudgingly well-earned trait of his species. Since first contact and the Blitz, Turians gave Alliance their due.

“Morbok Hosk,” she pointed at the fierce-looking krogan with dark brown head-plates and pale, almost ghastly-gray skin, whose scars made the moon’s surface look as smooth as the sea. He stood, arms crossed, in full ancient battle plate. “A damn successful mercenary and long-time compatriot.” Emere noticed Morgan giving the krogan a nod of respect and his response in turn. He looked at Emere with a mix of disinterest and derision but made nothing more of it.

“Huron and Lostar,” she carried on to the salarian pair. “Twins, tech geniuses, spies. Salarian Special Tasks Group.” Emere gave her a worried and confused look. “They are here as part of our collaborative efforts to uncover what is going on. Council orders.” The salarians nodded to the human and carried on with their pre-mission checks. They were identical, down to the white skin and orange and black flakes covering their horns and foreheads. Those frog-like eyes gave Emere the creeps like no other.

“And this is my own unit. Vaerga, Kes'sa, Ai’ko, Val'sane, and the one smiling at you like a newborn pup is Lucasephia.” Morgan said.

“But you can call me Luca, if that’s easier,” the young asari exclaimed, prompting several annoyed looks from her companion huntresses. Luca retreated a step as her smile faded.

High energy individuals made Emere uneasy. What the hell are they smiling so damn hard for? Don’t you know this galaxy will smack the hope right off your alien fucking visage? There was a nod followed by her trademark grunt at the young asari.

“Now that we’re all acquainted, the Lieutenant here is a capable marine, tech expert, and engineer, and we’re glad to have her on our team. She will also act as our human liaison, for obvious reasons.” Morgan reached down to the console in front of her and displayed a planet and a top-down view of the colony complex on Castea. The colony was made up of three parts, a hydroelectric dam system that fed power to the colony itself located three miles away, and the colony, and the research facility located on the cliff overlooking the settlement. The colony housed some three thousand individuals, all with prefabricated homes, workplaces, a tram station to and from the dam, and a small spaceport housing shuttles and small freighters. There was a large clearing to the west of the settlement where smaller Alliance troopships and larger freighters could easily land.

“You all know the details from your individual briefs, but we’ll go through them here once more to devise a plan of action. This is the situation: six days ago all contact was lost with the colony and the research station above it. There were two thousand nine hundred and eighty-two humans in the colony itself, and twenty-five researchers deployed by the Council. Their mission was to collaborate and research a phenomenon on the planet, hence the facility on the hilltop.” She pulled the holo in closer and displayed a larger image of the colony complex.

“There are three locations we are interested in. The research facility, the government building housing the colony mayor and primary communications equipment, and the military barracks where the Alliance defense force is housed. Our primary mission will be finding and securing the research data. Secondary objectives will include the comms blackout and, should it be deemed serious, discovering the cause and the whereabouts of the colonists and Alliance troops.”

“Typical,” Emere muttered after the brief. “It is serious. Colonies don’t go dark for no reason,” the former marine said, arms tightly folded over her chest. Being a stranger among aliens meant she would have to be careful with her words and motives. A tiring charade but one she learned quickly early on in the Alliance. Sure, it boiled down to actions but words were somehow of equal value. Which was a load of bullshit. “As much hell as the Alliance gave me, they’re still my people and I’d like to know what happened.”

“So why are we here and not the Alliance? A colony goes dark and not a single ship is dispatched to see what happened?” Morgan asked, pointedly, but calmly. “That concerns me much more. We won’t abandon the colonists, but the research data is our paramount objective. It’ll reveal much more than how to filter water through rock. Communications, liaisons, private journals, all this will give us a better clue of what happened here and hopefully how to prevent it in the future.” Weighing thousands against billions was easy arithmetic for a pessimistic asari. Morgan bore no bad blood with humans, in fact, she had hoped the colonists had just abandoned the settlement for some reason and not, in fact, what she was dreading actually happened. Still, their mission was clear.

It was the sad brutal truth. Emere rubbed her chin then nodded. “Kae. You’re right.” She gazed around the room at the group of aliens and felt a sense of betrayal from her own kind. She resumed in silence, her fury simmering. Maybe the Alliance kicking her out was a good thing after all.

Morgan gave her a worried look and nodded before continuing. “We’ll split up into three teams to cover more ground. Tevius and Hosk, you’ll investigate the barracks. Anything suspicious needs to be recorded. Make sure to check the weapons and armor lockers, they may give us hints in case of trouble. There is a command console inside the barracks control center. It may have data that will help.”

“This isn’t my first op, kid,” Hosk said with a guttural laugh. “And I know Tevius is just slightly worse than I am.” The turian groaned and rolled his eyes at the krogan, but took no offense.

“I have no doubt,” a knowing smile crept across the asari’s lips. “Huron and Lostar, you’ll head down to the main complex. It houses the base computer and the comms array. Find out what caused the blackout and see if there are any logs about what happened down there. There’s bound to be something.” The Salarians nodded in unison before Morgan turned to her huntresses. “I know you can hold your own, but Kes'sa and Ai’ko will provide you with support. They’re our best biotics.” The two asari huntresses bowed and bumped their wrists in a gesture of camaraderie.

“The rest of us will head for the research facility,” she looked at her remaining huntresses and Emere in turn. “The facility is an excellent vantage point for your rifle, lieutenant, should we need it.” She looked at all of them in turn, waiting for questions which never came. “Good. We have a bit of time to prepare while we travel so do what you need to do to get ready. I’ll show the lieutenant to her quarters.”

As the squad disbanded and headed out through the main door, Emere felt a strong krogan hand on her shoulder. She stopped and glared at the imposing alien expecting a rebuttal or an insult. “I thought you humans were weak and squishy like the rest of them, but I like how you broke your superior’s back just to prove a point.” He chortled gleefully. “Makes you more krogan than Morgan here. Good to have you around, just don’t shoot me instead of the enemy.” He walked off, disappearing behind one of the doors leading into the engineering section.

Emere gave Morgan an angry, puzzled look. “He read your file. That was a compliment.” The asari replied.

“I’m flattered,” Emere muttered in a flat sarcastic tone, unconsciously brushing off the non-existent dirt on her shoulder. Somehow she felt naked and vulnerable around so many aliens. “He just better watch where his hands go. I don’t fight big fuckers like him. I shoot them.”

“Is that how you treat everyone who isn’t a human at all times?” Morgan crossed her arms over her chest. “He’s seven hundred and sixty years old and he’s seen more war than most of your species.” She turned around to walk away, not in the mood to dissuade a xenophobe. “Follow me, lieutenant.”

“Some humans too,” Emere added, not that she cared. She followed the asari, one hand gripping the bag that was over her shoulder. “Seven hundred-sixty, huh?” She feigned interest. It was indeed a marvel that krogan and asari had such long life spans even though she didn’t know much about any species aside from their obvious visual markers. Asari were strange in that they looked like human females. To Emere at least. Maybe it was some kind of mind trick to get humans to sympathize with them. For all she knew, they were ugly ass monsters ready to devour everything and everyone.

“Yes.” Morgan replied brusquely as they entered an elevator heading down, through the elongated ventral fin of the ship. “Their files will be in your quarters. You can read them all you like.” As the doors opened the pair walked out into the busy hallway. Several techs went about fixing some electric panels, while several of the ship’s crew went around their business between crew quarters. Several of them gave Emere a look of worry or suspicion. Clearly, they were as unsure about her as she was about them.

Morgan stopped in front of a door wide enough for one person to pass through, opened the door, and stepped inside. Emere followed moments later finding a familiar layout of basic officer’s quarters, and then some. The bed in the corner was spacious for a single person, and the room had a built in sofa and table with a data terminal embedded into it right next to the bed. In the far corner, opposite the door, a tall locker for equipment, and right next to it a small collapsible refresher unit that doubled as a water and food dispenser. The whole wall facing the door was a window out into space where colorful lines of bending space flowed around the ship at lightspeed. Sparse, but luxuriously furnished by Alliance standards.

“Your quarters, lieutenant. I hope they work for you.” She allowed Emere to take the place in, before stepping next to the door, ready to leave.

“Fucking mint,” Emere said, not wasting time to get into the room. She tossed her bag onto the bed, then turned back to Morgan an annoyed expression on her features. "Something else you need, lanu moaga?3"

“No,” she replied evenly. “I suggest you read up on the mission, your contract, and the people you’ll be working with. You’ll need it, because I expect you to follow orders just as well as you hand out insults.” She turned on her heel and left the room, and Emere to her thoughts.

As soon as the door swished shut, she pulled out a cigar from her bag and tucked it between her lips. She continued to rummage through her luggage further to pull out a platinum-plated lighter with tribal designs etched into the metal. Her thumb caressed the object that had an obvious sentimental value. Letting out a sigh she lit her cigar, the familiar burning sensation filling her lungs.

She fetched her datapad from her bag then hunted about for a makeshift ashtray. Settling for an empty glass, she took to the small desk and began to catch up on her inbox that was full of spam and messages from previous hook-ups, none of which interested her. She was going to mark it all as read until she spotted a message from her mother. Kae. An audible groan left the woman’s lips as she knew what it was about. The Alliance always notified the immediate family of their soldiers' statuses. Regardless, the simple message put the fear of God in her.

_Call me. ASAP._

Even being a seasoned soldier hearing her mother’s chastisement still made her uneasy. No doubt her mother would be trying to reach her via any avenue but Emere always set her comms to silent whenever she was on any kind of job so her mother would wait. Marking the rest of the messages as ‘read’, she opted to do as Morgan suggested and read up on the people she’d be working with. Despite all of their extensive backgrounds, that wasn’t enough to soothe the ex-marine’s lack of trust. This would be her first mission being the only human. Of course she’d put her best foot forward to ensure the objective but that did not include blowing smoke up anyone’s ass or heroics. She ashed the cigar and extinguished it as she finished reading about Huron and Lostar, the twin techs that seemed alright in her book.

As a final step of preparation, she set aside her armor, and checked her gear which included making sure her omni-data was up to date. Her naginata sniper rifle and katana were cleaned and ready to go. The last thing that needed cleaning was her body. She peeled off the layers and slid into the bathroom, making sure the water was hot enough to scorch her skin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Planet Castea  
New O’ahu colony**

A chain of loud bangs echoed across the green, verdant landscape of Castea as three black asari shuttles nosedived through the atmosphere. Engines roaring at supersonic speeds, the craft darted towards the hilltops miles away from the colony proper. The geography of the area made their approach from cover much easier, but haste and precision overruled any attempts at stealth. As the trio of craft nearly kissed the hilltops, they spread out each on their own approach preplanned and well executed by the experienced pilots. The approach was common for asari commando teams. Strike swift and hard and leave the enemy no space to react.

“Two minutes,” the shuttle pilot spoke through Morgan’s earpiece. Vaerga and Val'sane sat next to each other, their eyes black with the power of the meld. Lucasephia, Emere, and Morgan sat opposite the veteran commando in silence, cleaning and readying their gear. Morgan noticed the human staring at the veterans with a grimace on her face.

“They’re melding,” Lucasephia broke the silence with enthusiasm. She found that most things exciting and approached them with the giddynes of a child. Too young, too green, too innocent. She knew little of the galaxy, or the hatred other species often held towards her own. When Emere didn’t reply, Luca wrongly took it as an invitation. “They’re bondmates. They share their memories to remember each other if—”

“I don’t care,” Emere turned to her with a scowl, rudely interrupting.

“But I thought if I—”

“I didn’t ask. Now shut up and focus on the mission, or else you’ll get me killed when we’re down there.” She turned back to her rifle and finished her third pre-mission check to see if everything was in order. Morgan didn’t blame the woman for shutting Luca down, but she hated the way her venomous xenophobia inked its way into every syllable. Maybe finding the human was a mistake, but her matriarch demanded it. She could already feel the headache inching across her temples.

“One minute,” the pilot said, breaking Vaerga’s and Val'sane’s meld as they picked up their weapons in a robotic, practiced fashion and stood at the ready. Morgan followed suit, strapping her sword to her back and her pistol to her thigh. It clicked into place with a satisfying hiss.

“Ready for the drop,” she ordered as Emere and Luca stood up after her and assumed their predetermined positions. Each woman checked their jetpack and tested the nozzle on low setting one last time. Morgan and Vel’sane concentrated for a moment as a shimmering biotic field covered their bodies like an indigo gas fire.

“Ten,” the pilot said one last time as Morgan counted down and the shuttle’s doors swung open. The craft hovered a full story over the research facility’s narrow courtyard as all five combatants jumped, one by one, and landed with the roar of exhaust. The shuttle blasted away moments later, taking cover behind the hilltops. Even without any orders the quintet spread out into cover and advanced on the facility.

“No movement, no power,” Vaerga’s voice echoed through the team channel. The facility doors, some fifty yards away, were closed and unpowered from what the scans indicated.

“Team galea, team berah, this is team siari. Status?” Morgan ordered over the squad channel, one that all three teams used for communications.

 _“Galea has landed, siari,”_ Tevius replied. “No activity”

 _“Berah here,”_ the lightning fast tenor of Huron echoed Tevius’ reply. _“No power in the main facility. No one in the open. Must investigate further.”_

“Keep me informed,” Morgan replied and cut the link as she nodded to Vel’sane to progress. Behind them, Vaerga, Emere and Lucasephia took up the rear. They moved swiftly across the steps to the main entrance where Morgan signaled Luca to investigate. The young asari’s omni-tool spun into motion, scanning and analyzing the entrance and the surrounding area inside.

“I detect no life, and the building is powered down. We’ll have to force it open,” Luca informed them. With a nod to the two strongest members of the team, Emere and Vel’sane, Morgan and Luca stepped aside. The two women first pried the double doors apart and then pulled them open, each on her side. Morgan was first in, her pistol and omi-flashlight at the ready. Vaerga followed suit, covering Morgan's left as the other asari veered right. Luca was last in, after Emere and Ve’lsane who readied their shotguns. The reception room was a simple hallway extension with crates and scanning gear offloaded for future use. The left and right corridors circled around the outside of the circular building, with rooms opening to the left and inward.

“Clear,” Morgan whispered as she peeked into the corridor beyond.

“Clear,” Vaerga echoed moments later.

“Emere, you’re with me. Val and Vaerga you take Luca with you. Room by room, watch your corners.” Her advice was less to them and more to Luca. The bonded asari were well aware of their tasks. They had been huntresses for more than two hundred years now. Val’sane was even well into her matron stage, yet still she refused to retire. Morgan was glad she had the experienced asari next to her, despite her attempts to convince her otherwise.

Morgan and Emere advanced along the corridor to the first room and entered at the ready, scanning for any threats. It was a research lab. Botany and geology by the looks of the equipment. Several ety chairs and workstations, now abandoned, had mugs and plates of food on them. One dinner plate was shattered on the floor, its contents already moldy from exposure. Thick condensation covered each surface from the plants that lay dying in their hanging pots, and a stench of stale air and rotten food permeated the space.

“No signs of struggle, no weapons discharge, nothing,” Morgan said silently. “What the hell happened here?”

A combination of anger and pensiveness etched themselves onto Emere’s features as she too wondered what went on. “You’re guess is as good as mine, tentacles,” she muttered, her omnitool illuminated to do a bio-scan for any signs of life. “Kae. Not even a damn mouse.”

“Left side room is clear,” Vaerga communicated via their channel. “There’s nothing here and it looks like they ran out. There is coffee still in these mugs..”

“It’s the same on our end,” Morgan replied, consciously suppressing Emere’s nickname for her. “Continue on. There should be a server room in the middle of the complex. We can regroup there.” Several beeps of the comm indicated affirmation of the order and it went silent once more.

Without another word the two women moved out into the corridor and towards the next room, and the next, and the next. All of them were the same. Empty labs and not a soul in sight. Finally they saw Val’sane’s light from the other corridor coming to meet them.

“Anything?” Morgan asked as they stopped at the security door leading to the server terminals and communications equipment.

Vel shook her head. “It looks to me like they were kidnapped,” she looked at Emere before continuing. “Or there’s something more sinister at work.”

“What’re you thinking?” Morgan asked as she looked at Emere.

“There are some technologies that can vaporize bio-matter while leaving equipment unharmed,” The asari said. “I’ve seen them at work and they leave no trace.”

“How the fuck does a group of people just up and disappear though? More so who? And the hell do they want with us?” The ex-marine shook her head, her jaw pestle and mortar. Of course she knew the asari didn’t have the answer. “I’m young and I’ve seen people blown to bits, dismembered, heads rolling, you name it. But…” Galo swallowed and looked around, clearly uneasy about the situation, her gut flipping every which way as if somehow seeing a slaughterhouse of people would have been better. Steeling herself, she exhaled and continued. “Nothing like this. Hope we can find these people and whoever is responsible for this fucking insanity.”

The asari commandos fell silent as Morgan looked at Emere. “There’s one flaw in Val’s idea, though. We saw dying plants in the biology lab. If a weapon like that was fire, it would have vaporized the plants as well. Let’s not lose hope and let’s focus on what we know.” She turned to her unit. “Luca, can we get power back? We can’t open the door without it.”

“I’ve looked into it already. It seems the building is connected to the colony’s power supply. They had emergency generators but those were depleted a long time ago. Unless we get the power back in the colony or bring our own generator, we’re out of luck.” Luca replied uneasily, giving Morgan a worried look.

“Goddess help me, there has to be a way.” She activated the squad channel again and opened her omni-tool with a layout of the colony. “Team berah, status.”

 _“Berah to Siari, we are in the main complex.”_ Kes’sa started. _“There’s no power and the twins are working hard on setting up one of the emergency generators with the power packs we’ve found.”_ A long pause followed. _“Morgan, there’s no one here. Like they vanished._ ”

Another long pause followed before Morgan replied. “It’s...the same here. We haven’t found a soul.” She looked at Val’sane’s stern features. She was angry, Morgan could tell. And rightly so. “We need power here. Tell them to hurry up if they can, otherwise we’ll have to order a shuttle down with a generator.” A series of clicks indicated affirmation.

 _“Siari, this is Tevius.”_ The turian communicated before Morgan could even engage her comm unit again. _“We’ve run into something you might want to see. Video inbound.”_

Morgan’s omni-tool display flickered as it showed the blackened interior of the prefab unit the Alliance scouts used as a barracks. The walls, floors, and ceiling were dark with soot where the fire raged, furniture burned to the bare metal skeletons, and terminals and data consoles shattered or warped by the heat. _“It looks like the fire raged internally until it burned all the oxygen in the air. Nothing’s left and we can’t tell what the source was, exactly. It points to one of the terminals, but the way this burned…”_ He paused and turned his omni-tool displaying his face on Morgan’s screen. _“It looks like pulse weapons were used.”_

 _“There’s a dead one over here.”_ Hosk informed off-screen as Tevius’ omni-tool turned to face where he was pointing. An amalgamated pile of charred bones, flesh, and armor lay hidden behind an overturned desk.

Tevius’s scanner initiated and swiped over the body. _“Human, male. Can’t tell much else. Alliance, by the looks of the armor.”_

Emere was standing over Morgan’s shoulder to view the sight off her omni-tool. She frowned and shook her head. “None of this shit makes sense,” she murmured. Something so skillful that it can make a small army disappear mostly without a trace. “Can you see if you can recover his tags? Or omni-tool? Even if it’s fucked I can still perform data recovery.”

“ _Not much left, but we’ll scrounge up what we can,”_ Tevius replied mournfully. _“It’s not much but we can arrange for the remains to be returned to the Alliance. For what it’s worth.”_

There was a grunt of disapproval of the Alliance. “This fucker deserves to be returned to his family. If the Alliance cared any they’d be here.” The words were uttered like a scorned spouse. “Poor guy’s family will never know the truth.” Emere huffed and tore her eyes from the scene on Morgan’s omni-tool.

“Do what you can, Tevius,” Morgan replied, giving Emere some much-needed space. “Hosk, you’ve been quiet and I know something’s on your mind. Tell me.” The krogan’s face showed up on the screen moments later. She could tell he was frowning even underneath that natural krogan glower.

_“I have a gut feeling that whoever did this took the bodies with them, their own and the rest. Didn’t want people finding them, or…”_

“Or?” Morgan asked after a pregnant pause.

 _“Or they need them for something else, kid.”_ He concluded. _“I’ve seen this kind of thing before, usually pirates or slavers grabbing people to sell off on Omega or somewhere less civilized. But nearly three thousand people? That’s a first.”_

As he finished the lights came online in the facility, the door console lit up and the ventilation system kicked in. Morgan didn’t dare contemplate his words, at least not without some proof. _“Systems online,”_ Huron communicated from the main prefab building. _“Attempting system access in moments. Will advise on further development.”_ He cut the link immediately to focus on his work.

Morgan nodded and turned to the human. “Emere, can you and Luca check the facility communications and sensor logs? I’m betting we can find something in there. Save the research data, as well.”

Emere nodded with a grunt, hiding her annoyance with being paired with the young asari. The human wordlessly transitioned to her task, her omni-tool emitting its orange glow. Her eyes scanned communications vigilantly for any anomalies that might give the team any clues. Luca was close behind the human, a glint in her eyes that was present in naive or young populations. “Check the sensor logs,” Emere ordered without so much as a glance at the asari.

“I’m on it,” was her eager reply, her omni-tool illuminating her delicate features. As she began downloading the information she looked at the dark-haired human, her mouth twisted to one side. “Listen, about earlier I’m truly sorry if I offended you. I thought you might want to know about their—“

“Save it. I ain’t interested in apologies. Or making friends. Just do your job, asari.”

Luca bit her lip, doing her best to suppress the emotions rising to the surface. She had not met too many humans but her impression was that they were cordial, mostly friendly people. Emere, however, was the exception.

Her thoughts were put back on the task as her omni-tool almost too sluggishly uploaded the content. Most of the logs were erased, or too damaged to recover but as her luck would have it there were a few that were corrupted so she quickly worked to defragment the few files available. Her omni-tool lifted its display to show what the files had left. The image was static and dark, displaying a corridor not too far from where they were. At first there was no distinct movement, but then a soft glow from a light further down the hall appeared in the darkness. It moved with precision until it stepped into the dim generator lights. It was a geth, armed and aiming its gun into a room. As it aimed, humans started filing out of the room one by one. The strangest part being that there was no obvious response from them. No fear, no urgency, they simply marched as bugs do before a cold season.

Luca whipped around to show Emere, though not wanting to startle or upset the human, she simply stated. “I found something. I think.”

“You think?” Emere snapped, clearly frustrated with her lack of finds from the communication logs. The only certain thing was that they were erased.

“Take a look for yourself.” Luca replayed the log as Galo inched closer for a better view. The human squinted, frowned but no one could say what was going through her mind.

“Good work, V’nasi.” It made the alien do a double-take as to who the words were coming from. Emere’s features still displayed the hardness as it did before but her words were genuine. “Forward that log to me.”

 _“Siari, Berah,”_ the sharp, chirpy tone of the Salerian twins sounded over the comm. _“Databanks empty. No traces left.”_

“No traces?” Morgan’s surprise by the statement echoes the rest of her squad’s reactions. “There has to be something.”

 _“All gone, down to the mundane programs regulating maintenance on the base.”_ Lostar’s statement had a finality to it that Morgan could not deny. _“A virus. Artificial intelligence likely.”_

Emere and Luca emerged from the server chamber with grim expressions. “We can confirm. There’s not a lot of data here, but the video we saw confirms your geth suspicion.”

“Goddess,” Morgan exclaimed and crouched, grabbing her head in the process. “Why now?” She asked the empty air. Righting herself, she opened a secure channel to the Erythrae. “This is Siari. Send in the support teams. Inform the matriarch that I must speak with her.”

 _“Understood,”_ the ship’s captain replied and cut the link.

Emere’s expression betrayed unease at what that meant. Were they giving up? “There’s nothing left for us here. We need to analyze the data you and Luca uncovered and agree about our next steps.” Morgan said to everyone, but addressed Emere directly, sensing the woman’s apprehension. “Do you want to see this through to the end?”

Emere nodded firmly at the asari. “Especially if that means retribution and justice for those people.”

Morgan nodded and noticed an approving smile on Vel’s face. “All teams, back to the shuttles. We’ll meet up on the ship.” She cut off the comm before turning to Emere again. “I think it’s time you met your employer.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1Fesoasoani mai ia te aʻu le Atua. - (Samoan), lit. "God help me"  
> 2Emere, ou te - (Samoan), lit. "Emere, I'm glad you're well."  
> 3You too, tina. - (Samoan, lit. "You too, mom."

**Asari Starship** **_Erythrae_ **

**2183**

**0530 Hours**  
  


" _You were dishonorably discharged?!_ " came the infuriated feminine voice from Emere’s omni-tool.  
  
“I think you already know the answer to that,” the former soldier exhaled and slouched further into her chair, accepting the impending wrath of her mother. “‘Least I’m still alive.”  
  
_"I want to hear it from you. And I want to see your face, answer your vid call now._ _Fesoasoani mai ia te aʻu le Atua. 1_ _"_

“God certainly didn’t help me, or Sergeant Major Lenox for that matter, but sure, ma. Gimme a second.” Another sigh left her as she adjusted her posture to sit upright. There was an incoherent grumbling from her mother’s end that she couldn’t quite hear, but didn’t bother for clarification. She answered the vid call, her stoic features just as they were, her mother, a near mirror image with deep laugh lines, crow’s feet, and streaks of grey in her hair. Time was no friend of this woman who lost a son and a husband, now worried for her daughter.  
  
Emere rubbed the back of her neck, seemingly feeling the weight of her mother’s intense gaze.  
  
_"Emere, ou te fiafia o loʻo e manuia, 2" _the older woman began, her eyes much softer than before.  
  
“You too, tina.3” There was a short pause before Emere continued. “Before you lose your shit anymore, I’m not sorry for what I did and will do it again if given the chance. What that woman said was totally out of line.”  
  
_"What did she say—"_ _  
__  
_ “She called dad a coward. I got angry and a split second later, I did origami with her fucking spine. I didn’t intend for it to have lingering side effects but I wanted her to feel pain, my pain.” The words lingered a second before Emere continued. “Granted, we were never on the best of terms because she’s one to put the needs of aliens above our own kind. On top of that, the Alliance was holding out on details about dad’s disappearance. Anyway, after spending a couple days in jail the lady dropped the charges.”

Her mother closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked back at the camera. _"There is wisdom to be gained here. Your father would not tolerate that behavior from you, he would have encouraged that woman to press charges on you."_

“Yeah.” Emere fiddled with the collar of her shirt, then the dog tags that rested on her chest. Her mother’s eyes held a long expression like a pet patiently waiting for its owner to return home. Emere shook her head and gave her mother a determined look. “I’m not giving up, Talia.”

 _"It’s been over_ ten _years, Emere—"_

“And I’m _not_ giving up.”

_"Please just come home, it’s over."_

“I will find him.” 

" _Of what means? Em, you ruined any chance of gaining any new information. You gave them your life and they gave you nothing in return."_

“I’m not coming home. I have work to do.” 

_"What wor—"_

The former marine cut the call short, groaned, and slammed her fist on the desk. Courtesy of her stomach, despite the situation, she was reminded she needed sustenance. _Nothing like an argument with mom to get my appetite going_ , she reflected, scratching her chin. Grabbing her sweatshirt and throwing on some boots, she journeyed to the mess hall.  
  
The hall was void of sentient life, the soft glow of fluorescent lights emitting from various crevices and corners as the main lights had not yet been activated. Emere stretched vertically in the empty space venturing to the vending machine that seemed to have various types of food for different species. From the human section, Emere selected the breakfast burrito. It dispensed the item into the lower compartment, the human reaching in to grab the cylindrical food wrapped in plastic. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a figure entering the hall. “ _Fucking great_ ,” she muttered under her breath. She looked about, in what she thought were cabinets for a plate but her efforts were fruitless. The so-called ‘cabinets’ were for show. _Useless asari design_ , she thought, squinting at the approaching silhouette. Swallowing her pride, she called to the figure, “Any idea where the fucking plates are?” 

“Asari eat off the floor,” Morgan’s reply was only partially intended as humor. She walked over to the machine and pushed a button that dropped a wrapped bundle of asari food into the dispenser. Her fingers passed over a different button which produced a plate and cutlery from a sliding door. Without a word she grabbed her belongings and sat at the table nearest the machine, unwrapping her food.  
  
“Of course you d—” The human was left speechless as the asari was now comfortably enjoying her food. Less than meaningful utterances were said under her breath as she, not withholding contempt, forced the machine to give her a plate as well. Her eyes did a double-take over the machine’s many buttons and symbols. The universal sign for a ‘plate’ was quite obvious. Huffing, the woman went to a table on the furthest end of the hall, yanking her hood up over her head. 

A large group of asari crewmembers walked in, discussing this and that amongst each other. Suddenly the silence of the empty mess hall turned into loud chattering and tables and chairs moving across the grated floor. Vaerga and Kes’sa found their way inside as well, joining their commanding officer at her table, followed by three other asari Emere didn’t recognize. Two more tried to find a spot at the same table but settled at the closest one they could find. All but one asari avoided Emere’s table, likely hearing rumors of her unlikeable nature. All but Luca, who found her way through the crowd and slowly tried to sit opposite the human.

Emere glanced up at the young asari, her expression darkened. “What?” 

“Mind if I um... sit here?” Luca asked, her smile twitching slightly on one side. Emere’s grunt and a careless wave of her hand was all the affirmation the friendly asari needed. She didn’t waste time chowing down the food on her plate. “How’s the food?”

“Shitty as any other military-grade bullshit.” 

“Yeah, I agree; it’s not the best. But if you ever want to try asari cuisine, don’t get it from here. It will ruin your experience. If you’re ever on the Citadel again, you should try _Thessian Fare_. A gorgeous restaurant. Not quite like what we get back home but miles better than this.” 

Emere silently continued to eat her food, not making much of an effort to hear what the asari had to say. “I’ll stick to what I know.” After those words, Luca focused on her own food as the human finished her plate. 

A long, awkward silence followed only broken up by the sounds of chewing burrito and slurping gruel. Luca straightened after her fourth or fifth spoonful of whatever porridge-like substance she was eating, and cleared her throat. “Do you mind if I asked you something...personal?” 

"Shoot,” Emere murmured, mouth full of food. Her chewing slowed as she waited to hear the question. 

“Your hair,” she started with amazement and curiosity. “How long does it grow? Does it fall out? How do you take care of it?”

The rapid-fire questions made the former soldier cringe, her features scrunched up. “Grows as long as I want it. And I wash it.” 

“Fascinating!” Luca exclaimed. “Our head crests never grow and none of the other alien species have anything similar to your hair. Is it considered inappropriate if someone touched your hair?”

“Yes.” The human shifted and resumed eating her food, her dark eyes scanning the room, uninterested in the current conversation. 

“I guess that’s fair. We only let friends touch our crests, if at all. They can get sensitive and most asari don’t like being that personal.” She took another spoonful of her gruel followed by a long and awkward pause. “Could I...touch your hair? Y-you know, when we become friends, I mean.” Luca’s wide-eyed expression was filled with anticipation and excitement at the prospect. She was curious about human hair ever since she heard about how supposedly silky it was to the touch.

Emere’s brow furrowed. “We will never be friends. Even if we were, it’s not gonna happen,” she said, words laced with venom. She shook her head and gathered her plate. She stood and disposed of the plate and scraps.

“I’m…” Luca attempted as Emere walked away. “...sorry.” She huffed at herself for running the moment and continued to eat her food when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Morgan smiled a reassuring smile down at her. Luca’s smirk in return was one of genuine relief, but also disappointment. She watched her commander leave after the human, took her plate, and walked over to her comrades.

“Lieutenant,” Morgan’s tone was professional but stern as she walked up to the human. “Follow me. The matriarch is ready to see you.”

“Hopefully with my credits,” Emere commented, following behind the shorter alien. She took her hood down and straightened her posture.

They walked down several corridors in complete silence before entering a lift heading up, towards the bridge section. With several moments of silence and solitude to share Morgan cleared her throat. “I apologize for my terse reply earlier. I always try to keep things professional, so it wasn’t proper on any level.” She considered what excuse to give, but she decided against any that would antagonize the human further.

One of the human’s brow lifted as she listened to the alien’s apology. Whether for dramatic effect or control, no one knew, Emere let the words hang in the air for longer than most would be comfortable with. The lift began to slow to a stop. “Keep your professionalism along with your bullshit self-righteous apologies.” 

As the doors opened and she stepped out Morgan shrugged. "I expected more. I guess Luca has the wrong idea about you, after all." She carried on, unphased, towards the briefing room on the opposite side of the bridge deck.

Her lips parted for a response, but she bit her tongue instead. Hands clasped behind her back, she entered the room deliberately taking the side opposite of Morgan. 

Morgan's slender hands passed over the console controls as the lights dimmed in the room and a yard-wide pad of obsidian glass ejected out of the floor next to Emere. Morgan walked over and stood on the pad, waiting patiently for a full body scan to finish before a projection of a tall, slim asari appeared on the briefing table in front of her. Clearly, it doubled as a hologram projector.

The asari in front of them looked older than Morgan by some stretch. Her markings seemed darker and covered most of her eyes and cheeks, and her naturally tight and glossy skin seemed stretched and withered by age. She had creases on her brew and around her lips such that she almost reminded Emere of her mother. A flat cap, not unlike a hood, covered her head, and dark clothing gave her a regal and authoritative appearance. The projection's eyes were focused elsewhere in her immediate space for but a moment before she turned to look directly at the younger asari.

 _"Morghain,"_ the matriarch's eyes lit up with recognition, and her posture and expression visibly relaxed. "It is good to see you safe."

"Matriarch Visora," Morgan greeted cordially, with a slight bow. "I would like to introduce Emere Galo, as requested."

On cue, Emere offered the matriarch a crisp salute and a silent nod then returned her hands to a clasped position behind her back. 

_“Lieutenant,”_ Visora nodded with a smile. _“I do hope you’re settling in and getting accustomed to the Erythrae. Asari ship life must seem alien to humans.”_

“That’s one way to put it. I’ll adapt.” 

_“Good,”_ she replied simply, yet with a firm tone. A long pause followed as both women in the briefing room uncomfortably shifted in place, waiting for the matriarch’s word. 

Morgan was first to break the silence. “Matriarch, about the mission—”

 _“I have read the report. Unfortunately, that is not why I summoned you.”_ She looked off-screen to one of her consoles and with a wave of her hand produced a video recording of Alliance soldiers under fire. One of them, wearing marine blue Alliance armor and a beret yelled something inaudible over the din of battle, followed by an explosion and a freeze-frame of a large ship hovering above. Ruby lightning issued from its elongated extremities and the skies above swirled in a maelstrom of unknown energy. _“This is footage from Eden Prime, a human colony in the Exodus cluster. It has been attacked by unknown geth forces six hours ago. I felt that you should get this news from me, Lieutenant.”_

The former soldier’s jaw rippled while the rest of her face showed no emotion. Her hands were wrung white behind her back as the recording played. By the end of viewing the footage she simply nodded, looking the elder asari in the eyes. “Thank you, Matriarch.” 

_“I have reports from the Council that the Alliance is cooperating with the Spectres to unravel what is going on. They have admiral Anderson and a commander Shepard working on it. Apart from that, I have little information. It is sealed behind Spectre firewalls.”_ She scrolled through the data on her console and presented them with audio-visual cues through the holo-screen. _“We can do little to help them, but we can continue our mission. It is unlikely that these events are isolated.”_ The images and data disappeared from the hologram as the matriarch focused her attention entirely on the duo. _“I have sent you the relevant data I have gathered and the analysis of the logs you have sent us from New O’ahu colony. They show several points of interest for you to investigate.”_

“Understood, matriarch.” Morgan’s reply was automatic, ingrained, practiced. A soldier’s reply if Emere ever saw one. She needed no further enticement or convincing, the matriarch’s word was law.

 _“Lieutenant, you have been compensated per our agreement, though money is not an issue for us should you wish to stay. Should you wish to leave, however, I will not stop you. It seems we live in troubling times.”_ The unspoken invitation lingered for a long moment.

Emere lowered her head, internally weighing her options. A few more moments went by before she looked up at the matriarch. “Credits are not my priority. It’s making sure my people are safe and…” There was another lengthy pause before she continued, one of her hands unconsciously gripping the dog tags in front of her shirt. “My father has been missing for over twelve years, though I highly doubt there is a correlation with recent events, I’d like to request any intel you may be able to obtain on an Ezra Galo. Regardless if you can or not, I’ll stay.” She resumed a more formal posture, waiting to hear what the elder had to say. 

Visora turned to an unseen person off-screen and spoke a few words inaudible to Emere. She finally nodded and turned to the human. _“Of course. I have given my aide instructions to investigate your father and send you any relevant data we have. Thank you for being honest with me, lieutenant. It is hard enough to bear these things alone. I leave you to your work, now. Goddess light your way.”_ The hologram dissipated with a fizzling sound as the lights in the room turned on again.

“Whatever information you receive about your father,” Morgan started as she turned to face Emere. “I will make sure it is relayed directly to the console in your bunk. Only you will have access. As for the mission, I’ll contact all of you once I read through the analyzed data from New O’ahu.”  
  
“Okay,” the woman replied with a firm nod and turned for the door. 

“Would it kill you?” Morgan added as Emere took several long steps out the door. “To be nicer to Lucasephia? She’s impulsive and often annoying, but she’s loyal and true to her friends and family.” She crossed her arms and looked at Emere with a flat, emotionless expression.

“I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to do a job. You got a problem, sort it out with the matriarch.” Emere’s eyes were hard as she looked into the asari’s. 

“If you can’t trust anyone, how can you complete your mission and survive to talk about it?” Her body language expressed skepticism as she spoke. “You know as well as I do that if you don’t trust the people beside you, you’ll get someone killed. Or are you a hypocrite as well as a xenophobe?” She alluded to Emere’s reaction in the shuttle on their approach to the Castea colony. 

“I’m whatever you want me to be. The only thing I trust any of you to do is your damn jobs. I could give a fuck about what you do in your downtime.” Emere huffed and shook her head. “Are you done?” 

“Dismissed.” Morgan turned on her heel to read through the reports she was given. _Humans._ She thought with a sigh as she heard the doors closed behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out our wiki page for more details on characters, the plot, locations, etc.  
> https://the-mass-effect-au.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mass_Effect_AU_Wiki


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